Martine Rose Makes History as Balenciaga's New Creative Director
The designer will become the first woman to lead the 109-year-old fashion house.
Balenciaga has named Martine Rose its new creative director. The London-based designer, whose appointment was announced on November 6, succeeds Pierpaolo Piccioli, whose departure from the French luxury house was confirmed a day earlier. Rose, who is best known for her namesake menswear label, will assume her new role in Paris on November 16.
The appointment marks a historic moment for Balenciaga, with Rose becoming the first woman designer to lead the house in its 109-year history. According to Business of Fashion, she is also only the second Black woman to take the creative helm of a major European luxury fashion house, following Grace Wales Bonner, who was named creative director of Hermès menswear in October 2025. For Rose, the appointment also marks a homecoming. The British-Jamaican designer previously served as a menswear consultant to former creative director Demna from 2015 to 2018.
"It is a true privilege to be appointed Creative Director of Balenciaga, a House with an extraordinary heritage and a fearless creative spirit," Rose said in a statement. "Balenciaga has been shaped by remarkable creative talents before me. I am committed to honoring this legacy and look forward to creating the next chapter in this rich and beautiful story."
Rose founded her menswear label in London in 2007 and has since earned a cult following for her unconventional approach to tailoring and designs informed by British subcultures, music, and sportswear. In 2023, the British Fashion Council named her the British Menswear Designer of the Year at the Fashion Awards. Since launching, her celebrity following has grown to include Rihanna, Rosalía, Timothée Chalamet, and Kendrick Lamar, who wore a custom Martine Rose jacket for his 2025 Super Bowl halftime performance.
Rihanna in Martine Rose.
Her appointment signals a new direction for Balenciaga following Piccioli's brief tenure. The former Valentino designer joined the house in July 2025, succeeding Demna, who departed after a decade for Gucci. While Piccioli brought a more romantic, couture-focused sensibility to Balenciaga, Rose's appointment suggests a renewed emphasis on the subversive, streetwear-influenced aesthetic that defined the house under Demna.
"Balenciaga has always been a House of radical creativity, challenging conventions and redefining the boundaries of fashion," Kering CEO Luca de Meo said in the statement. "Martine Rose embodies this spirit with a fresh, fearless and deeply contemporary vision. Her connection to the new generation and her instinctive understanding of culture bring a new dimension to the House."
Setting aside the lack of women designers at the highest echelons of the luxury fashion industry, what makes Rose's appointment noteworthy is the perspective she brings to the role. Having spent nearly two decades building an independent label rather than moving between luxury houses, she has cultivated a distinct creative identity. Her runway shows, often staged in unconventional locations and featuring street-cast models, reflect her belief that fashion should be informed by the people who wear it, not industry gatekeepers. At Balenciaga, that challenge-the-convention mindset could encourage experimentation and innovation, while building on the house's legacy.
Martine Rose show during London Fashion Week Men’s on January 5, 2020.
How Rose translates that vision to womenswear and haute couture will be particularly interesting to watch. Though she made her name in menswear, her gender-fluid approach has long challenged traditional ideas about binary dressing, and she has presented co-ed Martine Rose collections in recent years. Haute couture, meanwhile, will be uncharted territory for Rose, just as it was for Demna when he joined the house in 2015. This makes it all the more exciting as it will allow her to reinterpret one of Balenciaga's most storied traditions through an entirely new, contemporary lens.
The appointment comes amid a broader creative shake-up at Balenciaga's parent company, Kering, which has also recently announced the departures of Anthony Vaccarello from Saint Laurent and Seán McGirr from Alexander McQueen. Rose's first collection for Balenciaga will debut during Paris Fashion Week in March 2027.
